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Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest airline, which has already been forced to cut operations in the economic crisis, saw passenger traffic fall 6.4 percent in June, the company said.

The biggest drop came in Asia, where passenger numbers fell 10.8 percent, while traffic in Africa and the Middle East dropped just 0.2 percent. The European network saw a 6.8-percent decline in traffic.

Air France-KLM said it carried a total of 6.4 million passengers in June.

source: AFP

The European Union has given Lufthansa, the German national carrier, the green light to purchase SN Brussels, after it was agreed the merger would not create a monopoly over some of Europe’s most lucrative routes. It is not clear how much money Lufthansa is offering, although it is expected to take up a 45% stake in SN Brussels in a month. Lufthansa will also have an option of buying the remaining 55% shares in 2011.

source: The Observer

Signals from the flight data recorders, or “‘black boxes”,’ of the Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 people on board have been located.

French naval vessels detected a weak signal from the flight data recorders. A mini submarine has been dispatched on Monday to try and find the “‘black boxes'” on the bottom of the ocean floor.

The “‘black boxes'” may contain vital information that could help explain what happened when the Airbus A330 aircraft crashed into the sea en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1.

source: telegraph.co.uk 

SkyEurope Airline AS, a Central European discount airline, said Monday it was granted protection from creditors by a court in the Slovak capital.

The company said in a statement it had asked for the ruling from Bratislava I District Court so it could carry out a reorganization plan to make the company more attractive for potential investors.

Slovak law allows companies up to nine and half months to complete reorganization under protection.

source: Forbes

The Air France crash that killed 228 people may be the most costly airline disaster since 2001 as insurers led by Axa SA compensate victims’ families and pay for the loss of the plane.

The families are entitled to the equivalent of at least $150,000 for each of the passengers.

The cost to Air France-KLM’s pool of insurers, which includes Allianz SE and American International Group Inc., will depend on estimates of the travelers’ nullified lifetime earnings and any negligence demonstrated by the airline.

source: Bloomberg

Aer Lingus has announced it is to suspend flights from Dublin to some of its US destinations over the winter.

The airline’s direct services between Dublin and Washington and Dublin and San Francisco will stop from 25 October.

Services between Shannon and Chicago will also be suspended over the winter period, from 1 September.

Aer Lingus said the four times a week Shannon to New York JFK remained under review.

source: BBC

The Airbus A330 ploughed into ­thunderstorms and heavy turbulence four hours into an overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris earlytoday . ­Fifteen minutes later, the aircraft reported ­electrical faults through an ­automated message. Then nothing.

In total 61 French people and 58 ­Brazilians were among the passengers on board AF flight 447, as well as 18 Germans and at least a dozen other nationalities. Seven children and a baby were aboard, as well as 12 French crew. There were slim hopes of survivors.

“‘It’s a tragic accident. The chances of finding survivors are tiny,”‘ said a sombre French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Southwest Airlines, which has bashed competitors for charging fees, said Friday that it will add new fees for passengers who bring small pets onboard and for unaccompanied minors.

It also will raise the charge for checking a third piece of luggage or an overweight bag from $25 to $50.

Other airlines have raised hundreds of millions of dollars since last year with new fees that include charges for checking one or two pieces of luggage and for talking to reservations agents on the phone.

source: Newsday.com

Budget airline easyJet will not be able to offer couples the chance to get married in the skies after a Bedfordshire council rejected the plan.

The company applied to Luton Borough Council for pilots to be authorised to officiate wedding ceremonies.

But a council spokeswoman said the law did not allow a civil partnership or marriage to take place on an aircraft.

The airline said it had received a number of requests from couples hoping to marry in the air and they had hoped to appeal to people looking to get married “‘somewhere out of the ordinary'”.

source: BBC

Branson, whose Virgin Group controls BA rival Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement that an alliance between BA and American would strangle airline competition on routes between London’s Heathrow Airport and the United States.

“‘If the proposed merger between BA and American Airlines is allowed to go ahead, then the result for passengers, employees, communities and for fair and healthy competition, would be disastrous,'” Branson said.

Virgin Atlantic has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to reject the proposed alliance, which would allow BA and American Airlines to cooperate on schedules, fares and cost-cutting.

source: Reuters